Controversy has abounded since former Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin spoke at CSU Stanislus’ 50th Anniversary Gala on June 25.
Students and faculty were not invited to the event, which was limited to those who had paid $500 dollars per plate, to hear Palin speak. There were, however, over a hundred students protesting outside the school’s cafeteria.
The university had not reported how much Palin was to be paid for her appearance and refused to release the information.
State Senator Leland Yee and CalAware, a center for public forum rights, immediately began calling the university to make the contract with the galvanizing figure public. Palin reportedly charges up to $100,000 per appearance, a hefty fee for a CSU in these trying economic times.
Soon after the event was announced in March, CalAware filed a lawsuit against CSUS for violating the California Public Records Act, whether deliberately or inadvertently.
Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne upheld CalAware’s claims and ruled that CSU Stanislaus would have to release all documentation regarding Palin’s speaking appearance.
“Come on, this is California,” Palin told the crowd of supporters regarding the protestors. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
The publicly funded CSUS has maintained that they do not have access to the contract because the event was put on by the nonprofit CSU Stanislaus Foundation, an auxiliary organization to the university, even though the proceeds from the event were funneled directly back into the university.
In response to the judge’s decision, Dawn Theodora, an attorney representing the university, stated that the CSU Stanislaus Foundation is one of such, “private charitable organizations not subject to the Public Information Act,” but conceded that the university “will comply with the requirements set out in the order.”
CSUS’s credibility came under fire when two students found six pages of an early draft of Palin’s contract dated March 28 along with shredded financial documents in a campus dumpster. According to The Turlock Journal, the contract included demands ranging from “Round-trip, first class commercial air travel for two” to “bendable straws.”
The controversy’s ensuing legal dispute represents a landmark case over the public’s right to information.
The California Public Records Act of 2004 states that a public agency must, upon request, “assist the member of the public to identify records and information at are responsive to the request.”
In January, the California State Senate approved Bill 330 which “updates the California Public Records Act to include auxiliary organizations at UC, CSU, and CCC campuses.”
Like the CSU Stanislaus Foundation, the CSU East Bay Foundation is designated as a non-profit organization and is not subject to federal and state income tax. The foundation oversees many important facets of our campus such as the Pioneer Bookstore, Education Foundation, University Union, Associated Students Incorporated, and the Department of Continuing